


The Exodus of Ingary

by Untherius



Series: The Sun-Bearer Chronicles [2]
Category: Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones, Norse Mythology, Tangled (2010), Thor (2011)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-05
Updated: 2011-10-05
Packaged: 2017-10-24 08:05:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/260997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Untherius/pseuds/Untherius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rapunzel goes to visit Howl and Sophie on Ingary.  Her stay on Sophie's homeworld is cut short when a disaster of mythic proportions forces an evacuation to twenty-first century Wales.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Exodus of Ingary

“Howl? Howl! We have a problem, Howl!” Calcifer used the tone he only reserved for those times when stuff was about to hit the fan in a very big and very bad way. Howl looked abruptly up from his work.

“What is it?” Whatever it was, he had a very bad feeling about it.

“Howl, I'm detecting EM and gravimetric disturbances throughout the Krakanen system. The orbital planes of every body with a mass greater than zero-point-zero-five lunar equivalents within twelve light-years has shifted by at least two degrees and their relative elliptical positions have re-centered by between zero-point-zero-four and zero-point-one AU. Ingary's axial tilt has shifted by three-point-four degrees. Do you know what this means?”

Howl's eyes widened in alarm and he stood bolt upright. _“WHAT!?_ So soon? But you said...”

“I know what I said. Clearly I was wrong.”

He and Calcifer had spent the last three years studying the relationship between quantum physics and the sorts of things Ingarians regarded as magic—Howl called this nascent field Holistic Physics. As the avatar of the Ingarian sun, Calcifer had provided invaluable assistance, both in terms of Howl's research and in its application. Just last year, they'd used gravimetrics and electromagnetism to alter the trajectory of a comet that had been on a direct collision course with Ingary. Their findings had long-range implications for the future of renewable energy, interstellar travel, medicine, manufacturing, just to name a few. Now, all that was in jeopardy.

“But how could you be off by that much?”

“I don't know, but I think it has something to do with the Princess.”

“The Princess?”

“When she arrived, I detected a subspace fluctuation in the planet's quantum matrix, but I just thought it was background reverberation from the temporal shift in your portal. It wasn't until afterward that I noticed the sun-tears and you KNOW what effect those things have on my kind. Howl, I think they destabilized Krakanen's core and accelerated its collapse.”

“What? How?”

“I don't know, but I felt their vibration signature around Lorash's corona. I think that vibration traveled up the solar wind.”

“How long do you think we have?”

“Not long. I expect the IR pro-wave any minute now. The first shock-wave should arrive within five minutes of that. Then we have two hours at most until the second shock-wave hits.”

“But there are three billion people living here! How are we going to get them all out in two hours?”

“We're not!”

“What?! What options do we have?”

“There aren't any. You must get the Princess, your family and their families off the planet. You know full well it'll take the city council of Market Chipping all day just to make a decision, to say nothing of actually implementing anything. It's worse in Kingsbury. Parliament's in recess and it'll take a week to recall them for an emergency session. Even the Council of Magi takes an hour just to decide where to go for lunch. You'll have to do this by yourself. Hopefully others elsewhere will have the initiative to act on their own, too. Now go!”

Howl turned and bolted for the front door. Sophie and Rapunzel were on the other side of the garden, a full one hundred meters away. “Sophie! Rapunzel!” he bellowed, gesturing frantically, “Get in here!” A reddish glow caught his attention and he looked up. The entire sky had gone scarlet. The ladies noticed too and began to run toward him. Then a ruddy light washed over them and Rapunzel stopped dead in her tracks as if she'd hit a wall. Sophie turned around.

“Come on!” She grabbed Rapunzel's arm and pulled, but she wouldn't budge. “What's wrong?”

“I don't know! I can't move!” Then she straightened up, stiff as a board, an expression of fear falling over her face. Howl ran up to them.

“What happened?” he said as he reached for Rapunzel. A strong shock of static electricity arced out from her and threw him into Sophie, knocking them both to the ground. As he looked up, his eyes grew wide once more. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he could just see, barely at the edge of the visual spectrum, some thin lines of something coming out of the ground, passing through Rapunzel and continuing up into the sky. Beyond that, a shimmering, expanding band of mottled red and yellow hurtled toward them from over the horizon at astonishing speed. Howl grabbed Sophie and pulled her up.

“Let's go!”

“We can't leave her!” she protested.

“She's stuck and I'm not leaving _you_!” He picked up his wife and ran back toward the mansion that served as a front for one of his castle's portals, ignoring her protests. Markl met them at the door.

“What's happening? Where's the Princess?”

“She's not coming,” replied Howl, putting Sophie down and ushering her through the door.

“What do you mean she's not coming?” Then he spotted her across the garden. “I'll get her!”

Howl stopped him. “It's no use! It's like she's literally nailed to the ground. It looks like quantum filaments.”

Markl looked past him and up into the sky. The mottlings had resolved into incandescent blobs, streaking across the sky at a very shallow angle. Howl turned to follow his gaze.

“Grand Coulee Dam!” exclaimed Howl.

As they watched, one of them—easily a half-kilometer in the smallest dimension--abruptly stopped and dove sharply downward in a rapid spin. They could almost see the look of utter horror on Rapunzel's face as she watched it hurtling straight toward her. Less than three meters above the ground, it shimmered and seemed to wink out. Then there was a blue-green flash followed immediately by an explosion that sent a wave of fire and ash surging rapidly toward them. It all happened in a split second and they barely had time to dive through the door and slam it shut behind them.

They lay there in stunned silence for what felt like an eternity. As they picked themselves up off the floor, Sophie began to cry and Howl took her in his arms. Markl stepped past them and opened the door. The garden and everything within eyeshot--which wasn't far with all the smoke clouding the air—had been reduced to burning cinders. He stepped outside, but a wave of heat and smoke stopped him in his tracks.

“What are you doing?” asked Howl.

“Someone has to do it.”

“What? Bring back her remains? Markl, there isn't anything left! I'm surprise the door's still intact.”

“Wait, I think I see something. It looks like cloth.” With that, he ran out into what was left of the garden. A few minutes later, he emerged from the smoke carrying Rapunzel's limp body. Howl was shocked.

“That's impossible! She should be a pile of ash!”

“Yes, and I'm sure her parents would have loved to have had _that_ returned to them, eh?” said Markl between coughs.

Sophie turned around, wiping her tears. She gasped. “She's alive!”

“How can you tell?” asked Markl as he carried her inside and laid her on the living room sofa.

“I didn't spend all that time honing my skills for nothing! Let me have a look at her.” Sophie put her hand on Rapunzel's forehead. After a few moments, she looked up at Howl. “She's in a very unusual comatose state, but her metabolism's sky high. I've never seen anything like it before. I think she'll live, but I don't know for how long. Honestly, I don't even know if she'll come out of it and usually I'm at least within a four-week tolerance when it comes to comas.”

“Howl?” asked Markl after a moment. “Why is it hard to breathe?”

“The shock-wave must have removed part of the atmosphere, consumed some of the oxygen, or both. I know how susceptible you all are to hypoxia, so that's going to make what I'm about to ask you to do that much more difficult, but you'll have to endure it. We don't have much time and I need you both to listen very carefully. We have at most two hours before every living thing on this planet is incinerated.”

Their eyes grew wide.

“Here's what I want you to do,” he continued. “Sophie, contact your sisters and tell them that we're evacuating. I want them, their families, friends and neighbors _in this room_ inside of one hour with anything and everything they want to save. They should bring as much foodstuffs as they can carry, too. As they arrive, start moving them to Wales, beginning with the Princess, the very young and the very old. If Megan's home, tell her I'll do penance later. No matter how much she yells and screams, do _not_ take no for an answer. We're going in and it's _not_ negotiable! See if you can reach Mrs. Fairfax, too. Then pack our own belongings. Markl, I want you to contact Suliman and tell him to implement the Omega-Thirteen Protocol. I realize it's still mostly in the planning stage and that it was never intended for such a narrow window, but it's all we have. Then pack up the Castle's contents, but only what's irreplaceable. Sophie, I want you to help him when you've finished. I'll take the seven-league boots and go for Penelope. She has another portal to an alternate site in Siberia. If I don't return, look for me there. It is _critical_ that you get out and seal the portal before the second wave hits. Do you understand?”

They all nodded and went to it.

“Howl,” said Calcifer from the fireplace, “may I talk to you over here for a minute?”

“Yes?” said Howl when he'd reached the hearth.

“If you could see what I'm seeing, you'd be very afraid.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I said about the Princess bearing the sun-tears?”

“Yes.”

“Now she bears sun-blood, too. Do you know what that means?”

“No.”

“Neither do I, but I can tell you exactly the number of times it's ever happened.”

“Continue.”

“Zero.”

“What?”

“Never, in the collective living memories of all the avatars of all the suns of all the known worlds, has an otherwise corporeal being borne both the tears and the blood of any sun at the same time. And she bears the tears of one sun and the blood of two others. That otherwise benign-looking girl right there could very well be the single most dangerous corporeal being in the known Universe.”

“You're not serious.”

“Oh, I'm quite serious. She has the power to subdue entire star systems and rule the galaxy. We're running out of time, so you'll have to figure it out on your own.”

Without another word, Howl nodded, rose, went over to the closet and retrieved the seven-league boots. Then he walked over to Sophie as she closed the mirror-call with her sister Lettie. “I'll see you either in Wales or Siberia. You know how to get there. I love you.” He kissed her, walked out the door into the smoky waste, stepped into the boots and was off.

*****

Howl's sister's house was in complete chaos. It had, quite literally, been transformed from a Welsh suburban middle-class home into a miniature refugee camp. Sophie was simultaneously trying to manage her own son, her and Howl's belongings, her extended family and the others they'd essentially raked out of the wreckage of Market Chipping. All of them were barely able to hold themselves together, teetering in a precarious balance between shock, fear and sorrow. They tried to keep themselves occupied dragging all their effects to the back deck. Markl had carried the Princess and his own and the castle's belongings through the portal--which he'd found to be quite awkward—and was now attempting to do something for her, which was pretty much limited to simply keeping an eye on her and trying not to think about whether or not Howl had succeeded in getting Penelope off of Ingary. One thing he could tell, however, was that Rapunzel was getting warmer—a lot warmer—and he needed to cool her down fast.

“Mari?” he asked Howl's niece, who'd been to that point sitting on the couch trying to stay out of the way, “Does that hot-tub thing work?” His English was passable, but barely.

“I think so. Why?”

“Is it cold?”

“Well, yes, but...”

“Good. Sophie!” She'd just stepped into the room.

“ _What?! Sorry, it's just that_...” Sophie spoke to him in Ingarian.

“ _I know_ ,” said Markl, in that language, “ _Will you give me a hand with the Princess? She's burning up and I'm hoping the cold water in that tub out there will help_.”

“ _Of course_.” They picked up Rapunzel, one of them on either side and carried her across the back yard to the hot tub. They slipped her into the water, clothing and all, being careful to keep her head above water. Mari watched them from the back door.

“ _Markl, I don't think it's working_ ,” said Sophie.

“ _How can it not be working?_ ”

“ _Look at the water. It's steaming_.”

“ _But it was stone cold a moment ago!_ ”

“ _And look at that_ ,” said Sophie, pointing into the water. There were small bubbles rising from around Rapunzel. “ _I have a bad feeling about this_.”

“ _Ow! Her skin's getting hot!_ ” The bubbles rapidly grew larger, the water quickly began to boil and Sophie and Markl had to let go of the Princess. The boiling sped up.

“ _Uh-oh_ ,” said Markl, “ _Um...run!_ ” He and Sophie turned and ran toward the house. Suddenly there was a loud WHUMPH and a wave of heat knocked them to the ground. They lay there for a moment before rolling over to look back. What they saw made their jaws drop. All branches on the overhanging tree smaller than an inch had been blasted off, reduced to smoldering snags. The nearby fence was charred. The hot tub was practically gone, only a few bits of melted plastic and blackened wood and ash to show where it had been. In the middle of it sat a very bewildered Rapunzel. Her clothing was slightly scorched, faint wisps of steam rose from her skin, and her hair bore a subtle reddish tint. Otherwise, she seemed to be fine.

“What...what happened?” she stammered. “Where am I?”

Sophie and Markl picked themselves up off the ground, rushed over to Rapunzel and helped her up.

“You exploded!” blurted Markl in English.

“I what?”

“You exploded,” echoed Sophie as she and Markl helped her toward the house.

“What do you mean I exploded?” asked Rapunzel looking down at her fully intact form.

“Hey, guys, come quick! Some bloke put this exploding girl up on YouTube and...” It was Howl's nephew Neil. He was standing in the door next to Mari, who in turn stood there looking like a codfish. “Good God!”

“What?” asked Sophie.

“That was HERE?!”

“What was here?” asked Rapunzel. “I'm so confused. Would someone please tell me what's happening?” By then they'd reached the back door.

“Um...” said Neil.

“Don't 'um' me, young man,” said Rapunzel, who seemed to be more or less herself again. “Out with it!”

Neil hesitated for a moment, then, “Follow me.” He led the way upstairs to his bedroom where a computer sat on a desk. A YouTube page was loaded on the screen. “What are all these people doing here anyway?” he asked as he sat down in a chair next to his desk.

“It is...a long story,” said Sophie.

“Oh, there you are!” It was Howl.

Sophie looked up. “ _You made it!_ ” she squealed in Ingarian as she threw herself into his arms.

“ _Running in seven-league boots is tricky_ ,” Howl said wryly. He looked over at Neil's desk. “What are we doing?”

“Um...watching the exploding Princess,” said Neil.

“Oh?” said Howl. He joined the others in peering into the monitor.

“Just what, exactly, is that?” asked Rapunzel, pointing at the computer.

“To you, it's future technology,” said Howl. “It would take a while to explain.”

Rapunzel reached toward it and the image on the screen twitched violently. She drew back and it stabilized. Again she reached toward it, again it distorted, again she withdrew and again in re-stabilized.

“Um,” said Neil, “maybe you should...stay back.” Rapunzel closed her hands and held them down at her sides.

“Neil is about to show us...I am not sure,” said Markl.

Neil moved the mouse and clicked the Play button on the screen. The video buffered for a few moments and then the image of the Perry backyard as seen from the house next door appeared on the monitor. Sophie and Markl were clearly visible placing Rapunzel into the hot tub. They watched themselves run from the tub. Then a huge ball of fire erupted from it like someone had tossed a match onto a barbecue drenched with too much lighter fluid. The fire consumed the limbs of the overhanging tree and then quickly cleared, revealing Rapunzel sitting on the ground.

“Three Gorges Dam!” exclaimed Howl. Markl shot him a sideways glance. The severity of anything prompting such curses, if one could call them that, was generally in direct proportion to the size of the impoundment. That Howl now invoked the name of the single largest and most ambitious hydro-project on two worlds greatly concerned Markl. Everyone else, and especially Rapunzel, just stood there with their jaws open. Rapunzel looked like she was almost about to start hyperventilating.

“ _Poik!_ ” said Markl. Just then, Lettie peeked into the room.

“ _Howl?_ ” she said in Ingarian, “ _We have a problem_.”

“ _Another one?_ ” asked Howl in the same language, trying to suppress his exasperation.

“ _I don't think the portal's closing_.”

“ _Uh-oh. Markl, Sophie, follow me!_ ” He rushed out of the room with the two of them close on his heels and ran downstairs, down the hall and to the closet that currently served as the portal to Ingary. There was an oddly-colored light showing around the edges of the door. The room was beginning to vibrate a little.

“ _This is not good_ ,” said Howl, still speaking in Ingarian. “ _Calcifer was supposed to seal the portal after I left. Obviously something went wrong_.”

“ _You think?_ ” said Markl.

“ _What are we going to do?_ ” said Sophie.

“ _We have to try to move it. Hopefully the blast from the shock-wave will finish the job, but first we need to put it someplace that can absorb the energy_.”

“ _Where?_ ” asked Markl. “ _I don't know anything about your world's geography_.”

“ _Let's go with a thousand miles southwest. That'll put it in the middle of the northern Atlantic Ocean. That should do it_.”

“ _But that'll take_...”

“ _Focus!_ ” Interrupted Howl as he slammed both of his hands on the door. “ _Follow my lead_.” He closed his eyes and started muttering under his breath. Sophie and Markl joined him. The vibration rose and the room began to shake.

“ _It's not working_ ,” said Sophie.

“ _Harder!_ ” barked Howl. After another minute, the shaking began to subside and the light flickered, then went out.

“ _I think it worked_ ,” said Markl.

“ _Keep going_ ,” said Howl. “ _I'll tell you when to stop_.”

After a couple more minutes, Howl stepped back, took a deep breath and let it out. “ _Okay, I think we're done_.” The others followed suit. “ _We'll want to keep an eye on the local news. Anything like that is sure to be reported_.” He returned to Neil's room.

“Neil, would you get onto the BBS site and look for any reports of anything unusual over the north Atlantic?”

“Uh, sure.” He began typing and clicking. Then after a few minutes, “Nothing...interesting.”

“Keep looking.”

“And just what are you expecting me to find?”

“A bright light or a radiation surge or something else along those lines. We had to move the portal and I think some of the blast energy may leak out of this end. Hopefully the ocean's heat sink will be enough to absorb it, but I want to keep an eye on that. Please let me know the instant you find anything. The fate of our own world may depend on it.”

“Wait,” said Neil, “Just what happened...why's this so important?”

“I'll tell you all in a little while. Everyone else is nearly as confused as you are. Your mother's going to be demanding answers, too. Oh, and do you think you can do something about that video? I'd like to avoid that kind of attention.”

“It's a bit late for that. I'm pretty sure it's already gone viral.”

“But can you, I don't know, write an anti-viral program to get rid of it?”

“Wait, you're saying you want me to hack the Internet?” said Neil in astonishment.

Howl nodded.

“Okay, but if I do this, I'm going to need Star Trek tapes and an unlimited supply of Hot Pockets.”

“I'll see what I can do. But first, we should all adjourn to the living room. You too, Neil. You need to know about all this, too. Sync the feed to your iPad. Sophie, please collect everyone and meet me in there. We have...much to discuss.”

“Um...Uncle Howell?” said Neil once Sophie had left the room. “She's cute,” he said with a sort of dual-eyebrow-bump. Howl raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Sophie...she's cute.”

A warm smile spread over Howl's face. “Yes, yes she is.”

“Are you gonna ask her out...or something?”

“One...this is _entirely_ the wrong time for that. Two...I'll go with 'something.' Three...that's _aunt_ Sophie to you.” He turned his back on Neil's now-dropped jaw and walked out of the room. “Are you coming?” he called over his shoulder.

He reached the base of the stairs and was intercepted by Megan, who'd just returned home from running errands. “Howell Jenkins, this time you have gone entirely too far! I want to know what's going on and I want to know now! My house is full of people, none of whom speak English, and my back yard looks like a war zone. I want them, and you, all out right now!”

Howl stood toe-to-toe with his sister, something she hadn't expected, and looked her straight in the eyes. “I'm sorry, Megan, but that isn't going to happen.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I'm quite certain it is. If you don't remove them, I'll call someone who will.” She pulled out her cell phone, but Howl snatched it out of her grasp, something else that surprised her. He'd never stood up to her before.

“Give that back!”

“No.” He closed his hand around the phone and it vanished.

“If you're going to be _that_ way, then I'm calling the police.” She made a move toward the land-line phone in the den and Howl moved to intercept her.

“No you're not,” Howl said sternly. “If you do that, they all die.” Megan started to speak again, but Howl interrupted her. “That doesn't happen...not on my watch. I realize I used your home as a landing site without your permission and for that I apologize, but this is not open for negotiation.”

“Then you'd better start explaining yourself this instant! And no evasion!”

“First, I'd like us to all assemble in the living room. Then I'll answer all your questions.”

“Oh, you'll answer, alright.”

“In the meantime, could I trouble you to make tea for everyone? I'll even help.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Fine,” she sighed, “but this had better be good!”

“That depends on your point of view,” muttered Howl under his breath.

*****  


Howl and Megan stood in the kitchen a couple of meters from each other. She'd put two full kettles of water on the stove to boil. He was sorting through the tea selection, looking at one, putting it back, picking up another, looking at it, and so forth.

“How hard can that be?” asked Megan impatiently.

“Not all of this is compatible with Ingarian biochemistry and I don't know how they, or Rapunzel in particular, will react to caffeine.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“This wasn't supposed to happen for at least another two centuries and Earth was never supposed to be a relocation site. It wouldn't have supported an extra three billion people anyway.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I'll explain soon. What I have to say is for everyone. We all need to be on the same page if we're to avoid this becoming even more of a disaster than it already is. These look promising.” He held up three tea selections: chamomile; peppermint; and green tea. “Wait,” he said after a moment. He turned and poked his head out through the door. “Sophie?” he said, speaking to her in Ingarian. “ _Did you manage to grab your herbal tea packages?_ ”

“ _Yes_ ,” she replied.

“ _Did you happen to remember the seed packets for those?_ ”

“ _Yes_ ,” she repeated.

“ _Good. Would you please prepare a few sprigs of athalas? I think we could all use a bit of that_.”

“ _Of course_.”

He returned his attention to his sister.

“What are you playing at?” she said.

He cocked an eyebrow.

“The last time you were here, you had your so-called apprentice and an old lady in tow doing God-knows-what. Then you disappeared for three years. Now you return with this...menagerie. What's your angle this time?”

He smacked his hand on the counter in frustration. “My angle? You think this,” he jerked his thumb in the direction of the living room, “is a scam? Are you bonkers? Damn it, Megan, have you actually looked at them? Have you seen the unbridled terror and sorrow in their eyes? You don't fake something like that! If I were going to mooch off of you, don't you think I'd just do it? You still think I'm a slacker and I won't say I blame you. If you don't want to believe me, fine. At least believe them. If you want to eviscerate me, fine. I deserve it. But do _not_ take it out on them!”

“Gareth's going to explode when he gets home,” said Megan. Howl's complete refusal to back down had disarmed her and thrown her off-balance, but her voice still had an edge to it.

“I'd be surprised if he didn't. I survived an exploding witch. I just narrowly escaped an exploding star, with three dozen people in tow, mind you. Now I'm dealing with an exploding Princess. I can handle an exploding brother-in-law,” he said flatly.

Just then, a small boy with silvery hair padded into the room. Megan and Howl looked down at him. Howl said something to him in a mellifluous-sounding language Megan didn't recognize and picked up the boy. Megan raised an eyebrow.

“I'd like you to meet my son Aedan,” he said simply.

Megan's mouth hung open for a moment. Before she could say anything, Sophie poked her head around the corner. She visibly relaxed, then walked over to Howl, said something to Aedan and mussed his hair. Howl lowered his son back to the floor and kissed Sophie.

“You've met my wife Sophie, haven't you?”

“Um...” Megan blinked.

“Missus Perry,” said Sophie with a slight curtsey. She looked down and said something to Aedan, who looked up at Megan and said something to her with something resembling a wave. Megan waved back weakly. Sophie then ushered Aedan from the room.

Megan gawked at Howl. “I don't believe it,” she said incredulously. He shrugged. It was beginning to dawn on her that her brother was no longer the schmuck he'd been all his life. She had no idea what had happened to change him, but she had a feeling—and not a good one—that she was about to find out way more than she wished to know.

By now the water was hot. Howl sighed and rolled his eyes, picked up the first kettle and retreated from the room.

*****  


Everyone was now assembled in the living room. Most sat on sofas, chairs, or on the floor while a few stood. The coffee table had been moved to make more room. Megan and Gareth stood near the kitchen. As expected, he had been furious. He'd immediately begun shouting about evicting everyone wholesale on the spot, but relented some upon seeing all the glum faces and further when Howl had continued to stand his ground. Howl suspected Sophie had used a little of her empathic influence to calm him. They all sipped absently at their tea. Howl began a commentary in English with some visual aids while Sophie translated for her fellow Ingarians.

“You're all more than a little disoriented, so we'll begin with that.” He waved a hand and the room dimmed. “We are now here.” A three-dimensional image of Earth appeared in mid-air with Europe prominently displayed. A small pinprick of light marked the spot in Wales where Megan's house was situated. Rapunzel gaped, for she had never seen the likes of this before. “Penelope should be here.” The model of Earth rotated to present eastern Asia and another prick of light appeared in the middle of Kamchatka. The image of Earth shrank as Howl zoomed out to show it with the moon slowly orbiting. “We have only one moon, but it's a beauty. I'll be showing all of this to scale.”

Rapunzel was spellbound as Howl continued his virtual cosmic tour, making gestures as he went. It was like she was literally traveling through space, vaulting through the cosmos, and she felt like she was being given a glimpse of what it must be like to be a goddess. Howl zoomed out to show the entire Sol system, then zoomed out even more to show its position between the Perseus and Sagittarius Arms of the Milky Way galaxy. The image pivoted a little and Howl indicated the former location of Betelgeuse at the lower edge the galactic disk on the outer side of the Orion Spur and its position relative to that of the Sol system. “You've all just traveled four hundred fifty light-years, which equates to roughly three point seven quadrillion standard Earth miles.” He zoomed in on that to show the star and the relative position of Ingary's star system. “Until yesterday, Krakanen...which we call the red supergiant Betelgeuse...was surrounded by a vast cloud of dust and gas through which the Lorash system...that's Ingary's sun and all of its satellites...and several other star systems, moved in distant orbit around that star. Due to that cloud, what we here on Earth know as the aurora borealis and aurora australis were common and usually visible daily even at high noon on Ingary's equator. Their interaction with the planets rings...the sky was beautiful!” He turned and looked at Megan. “I wish you could have seen it.” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Then he turned back to the others.

“What I'm about to show you will be painful, I know. But it's necessary if you're to have closure. At sixteen-thirty hours Kingsbury time, Krakanen's core collapsed.” The image of Betelgeuse changed color to illustrate the supernova process. “The resulting supernova explosion sent three distinct shock-waves in all directions.” They appeared in the space before them. “The first was preceded by what we call an infrared pro-wave. Modern astrophysics on Earth has yet to discover this. It was dragging quantum filaments and those pinned Rapunzel to the ground, although I'm still not sure why that happened.” He gave Rapunzel a nod and she nodded in acknowledgement. “Minutes later, the first shock-wave, composed of bits of shattered photosphere and chromosphere material, pummeled Ingary and set half of it on fire. It also pulverized several of the smaller moons and stripped a quarter of the material from Lorash. That's why everything became dim.” The image showed bits of ejecta hitting the planet, shattering a couple of the orbiting rocks that Ingarians somewhat generously called moons and turning the ring surrounding the planet into something resembling Swiss cheese.

“That's when we made our move to come here. Within two hours of the first wave, and shortly after the last of us had fled, a second shock-wave hit the planet and ripped everything off its surface.” A second wave, much more powerful than the first, swept through the system, reducing everything, including the verdant world of Ingary, to blackened, dull-red-glowing lumps. A few eeping sounds escaped from a few mouths. “A few hours after that...a couple of hours from now...the third shock-wave will pulverize the remainder of the system.” The third wave, several orders of magnitude more powerful than the second, surged outward and blasted everything into bits of dust. “Now all that remains is a tiny neutron star surrounded by a vast cloud of debris.” Tears were now flowing quite freely and it was all Sophie could do to keep from collapsing herself. The images faded and the room brightened again. Howl walked over and put his arms around her. Sophie began to to cry great wracking sobs and Howl held her even closer. “I'm sorry,” he said simply. “This is an immeasurable loss and it will all take us a great deal of time to heal.”

Megan and Gareth stood there gawking. Their anger had been replaced by a mixture of shock, awe and horror. There was something in Howl's voice, in addition to his apparently newly-grown backbone, that gave Megan pause. Her feeling that he really had changed and really had finally grown up was much stronger. She stepped over to Howl. “How'd you do that?” she said quietly in his ear.

“Magic.”

“No, seriously. How'd you do that?”

“I'm serious. It's magic.” She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head in an unspoken give-me-a-break and he continued. “What most people on Earth fail to realize is that the line between science and magic is very, very blurry, if there's even a line at all. In point of fact, they're really facets of the same thing. I call it Holistic Physics. It gets increasingly complicated from there and I'd be happy to sit down with you and go over it in more depth at a later point. In the meantime....” He turned back to the others still assembled. Sophie's sobs had slowed and Howl brought her over to join her sisters.

“ _Now what?_ ” asked Lettie, once they'd all regained something resembling composure.

“ _Now we all have to find new lives here. It will be the single most difficult thing any of you has ever done_.” He looked over at Rapunzel and spoke to her in English. “Rapunzel, I'll find some answers for you. I know someone at Harvard University in the United States who may be able to help, but it might take a little time to set up a meeting. Meanwhile, I think you should spend the rest of what should have been your vacation at the Princess Palace. What do you think?”

She nodded. “If you think it would help. Wait...” her face fell and a look of panic came over it. “Didn't you say you moved the portal? How am I going to get back home?”

“That was just this end of that particular conduit. This house happens to sit at a spacial nexus. Don't worry, you can still go home.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank-you...for everything. Really.”

Just then, a chime sounded from a small mirror sitting on the coffee table. Everyone looked at it quizzically. Markl hesitantly turned it toward himself and tapped the frame. An attractive young woman's face with dark brown, yellow-streaked hair and large periwinkle eyes appeared in the glass. “ _Penelope!_ ” said Markl in Ingarian. “ _I'm so relieved to see you!_ ”

“ _And I you_ ,” she said, “ _How's everyone faring?_ ”

“ _As well as can be expected, I suppose. Frankly, we're all still in shock, but we'll survive...and adapt. You?_ ”

“ _We're all well, but it's a bit chilly here. Howl was kind enough to arrange for a shelter. The next few weeks will be critical. I have no idea how our friends will respond to this world's biosphere. I've erected a quarantine dome, but that's just temporary. I'll have to perform the Nidularion Procedure within the week_.”

“ _Where are my manners? Those of you who don't know her, I'd like you to meet my fiancée Penelope_.” He continued the introductions as he turned the mirror from one person to another—at least those he knew. Howl interpreted for his human family. “ _I'll call you again after things have settled down a bit here_.” He blew her a kiss through the glass and tapped the frame. The image faded.

The ensuing silence was interrupted by another chime from the mirror. Markl tapped it as before and a man's face appeared. “Suliman!” exclaimed Markl.

“ _Is Howl there?_ ”

Markl turned the mirror to face Howl, who stepped over and knelt down so as to be level with it. “Aye! That makes one more, I guess.” They were now speaking in English.

“It's literally a zoo here. Did you get anyone else out?”

“Yes. Most of Sophie's family and a couple dozen or so of their friends and neighbors, thirty-seven in all, including some of their possessions and a few pets. Penelope and her subjects made it to the Siberian site. We managed to also save a few Ingarian odds and ends. And you?”

“A little over fifty thousand people, several hundred pieces of art, a few dozen historical artifacts, a small collection of music, a quarter of the Royal library, most of the Ingarian seed bank and that part of the Kingsbury zoo that wasn't dead or too dangerous to handle.”

“You did all of that in two hours? I'm impressed!”

Suliman chuckled. “I'd have to be Aesir to do that. No, I erected a time dilation field. Binding it to the planet and the interstellar conduit was really tricky, though. It gave us about a week intra-field time. We were down to one day for the physical evacuation, though. It was tight.”

Howl slapped himself in the forehead. “Why didn't I think of that?”

“What do you mean? It was your idea. After all, you're the one who figured out how to navigate along the time axis.”

“Yes, but I'm surprised you were able to implement it.”

“You didn't?”

Howl shook his head.

“You got nearly forty people out, through a standard portal no less, went across the globe for Penelope, came all the way back and still made it out in under two hours? Damn! They should have made _you_ Minister of Magic!”

“Nah, I'm too much of a loose cannon. You know that.”

Megan furrowed her brow and stepped over to peer into the mirror. “Sullivan? Ben Sullivan? Is that you?”

“In the flesh, Megan. Listen, don't be too hard on your brother. What he managed to do is truly remarkable. He's done some incredible work. Without him, we'd all be dead, an entire civilization would have been completely erased and you and I wouldn't be having this conversation.”

“But my brother is a...”

Suliman interrupted. “A self-absorbed slacker and a parasite? Not any more. Surely you can see that for yourself. I've seen him risk his own life to save others on multiple occasions, including and especially this one. Has he discussed any of what happened?”

“There was some nonsense about another planet and a supernova...still not sure how he did that light show...but...”

“It's all true,” he interrupted again. At Megan's raised eyebrow, he continued. “I know it's a bit of an understatement to say that you have a low opinion of your brother, but you really should give him a chance. If you don't want to believe him, then believe me. Also, if the faces of those at your home now are anything like those of the people here...and they most certainly are...then believe that, too. They've just lost their whole world...literally. They've been through a lot and their ordeal has really only just begun. Every one of them has lost a spouse, parent, sibling, child, friend...in many cases, everyone they've ever known. You and I can go to a grave-site, or something serving as one. For them, that site is over four hundred light-years away. The best they can do is stand here and point at that small light in the night sky. They need all the support they can get, including yours. We all really need you and your family to work with us on this. Can you do that? If not for Howl, then for me and for the good people there with you.”

“But...we don't even speak the same language. What do you expect me to....” her voice trailed off.

“Trust your brother. I know that's really the last thing you want to do, but that's exactly what he needs to prove himself, it's what they need to survive and believe it or not it's what you need, too. Do we have your support?”

She thought for a few moments, then closed her eyes and nodded.

“Good, because we're going to have to ask a lot of you. Howl will work his tail off, won't you Howl?” Howl nodded. “And I'm sure you'll make him do it.” Megan snorted with a suppressed laugh.

“Wait,” said Gareth from behind Megan. “I haven't agreed to anything.”

Megan turned and glared at him. “I'm agreeing,” she growled. “And if I'm agreeing, you're agreeing.” That seemed to shut him up.

Howl returned his attention to Suliman. “So where are you?”

“Northern China, just about on the border with Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Russia.”

“Why there?”

“We couldn't move all those people through a standard portal. That would have been quite impossible. We had to use the Brifrost.”

“What? But that was just a deuterotype and hadn't even been tested yet. We were supposed to use it for terraforming first anyway.”

“Tell me about it. Do you have any idea how hard it was to aim that thing so we didn't wind up in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? I had to realign it four times and finally just had to point it at Asia and pray we didn't land in a lake or a city or some other really bad spot.”

“You do know what kind of energy signature the Brifrost conduit gives off, don't you?”

“You mean besides the theta radiation spike and the omicron outwash?”

“That's sure to attract attention and mostly the wrong kind. And all of those countries get really cranky about...well, about sodding near everything.”

“We've erected a cloaking field above the quarantine dome, so I think we'll be safe from prying eyes for a while, but I don't know how long we'll be able to maintain it. Nor do I know what we'll do if or when someone actually comes snooping. We only have eighty-seven warriors and while they're formidable, I don't know how they'd do in a toe-to-toe fight if the Chinese or the Russians decide to throw a tantrum. Besides, we otherwise kind of have prior concerns...like also making sure we keep our germs out of Earth.”

“Please tell me you saved the Bifrost plans,” said Howl, changing the subject slightly.

“Of course! I think we can re-build it, but doing so while avoiding scrutiny will be tricky. We also brought your portable prototype, but using it to jump continents without anyone noticing will be even trickier. That's assuming we manage to avoid having Earth's governments come down on us for trespassing.”

“Wait, Bifrost?” said Megan. “As in, the rainbow bridge of Norse mythology? You must be joking.”

“Not at all,” said Suliman. “Brilliant craftsmanship...going to revolutionize long-distance travel, allow us to terraform and colonize the whole Sol system! Wait 'till you hear how he got the idea.”

Howl started to squirm. Megan noticed. “Oh, this I simply must hear,” she said to Suliman.

“No, you don't,” Howl protested.

“If it makes my brother look ridiculous, I'm interested,” she said with a slight laugh. Howl squirmed some more.

“He got lost,” said Suliman.

“Lost?”

“Yes,” he said with an escalating chuckle. “He...accidentally...wound up in Asgard!” By now he was laughing out loud and Howl was nearly twitching.

“I...don't get it.”

“Oh, I wish I could have seen the look on his face when he found himself nose-to-nose with Heimdall. That would have been priceless!” said Suliman, wiping a tear from his cheek.

“I still don't get it.”

“Getting that lost is a big deal. It's like...standing on the north pole and taking a step that doesn't head south. I still don't know how he wound up way out on the other end of the Galactic Bar. It was so laughable, it took me a whole week to convince the Council of Magi to even consider listening to his proposal, let alone see him demonstrate his prototype. It's a miracle the Aesir let him leave at all, and an even greater one that they let him take that close of a look at their Bifrost. I'm half surprised Odin didn't send him straight on to Overheim. I suppose Peter wouldn't have let him in anyway, seeing as how I can count on one hand the number of souls they've admitted who still had their bodies attached and that always requires specific dispensation from Unelanuhi Himself.”

Megan blinked. “I don't know whether to laugh at him or you or both.”

“If you're quite finished,” said Howl impatiently. “The Bifrost Project was the single most ambitious undertaking on six worlds. We knew Krakanen was dying...the evidence was clear and indisputable, despite the usual objections from the inevitable skeptics. Following my demonstration of the Bifrost Junior, Suliman created a multi-national task force charged with the single objective of preserving Ingary's people and culture. The idea was to transplant the entire civilization using multiple generators placed in specific strategic locations across the globe. We searched every star system within two hundred parsecs. While we identified multiple candidates for terraforming, we only found one planet capable of supporting life and it already has six billion residents.”

“Really?” said Neil, obviously excited. “Where?”

“We're standing on it,” said Howl. Neil's excitement faded. “One suggestion was to use the Bifrost network to move Ingary itself into orbit around another yellow main-sequence star, but that was too risky. The chances of the planet being ripped apart were around forty-two percent. We tested it on two of Ingary's moons with disastrous results. So terraforming it was. We'd narrowed it down to about a half-dozen possibilities, two of them gas giant systems with large moons in the habitable zones of their suns. They would have given the Ingarian civilization plenty of room to grow over the millennia.” He fought down another upwelling of tears.

“So...we ARE alone in the Universe?” said Neil.

Howl raised an eyebrow and inclined his head toward the Ingarians crowding the room. Neil's eyes went wide. “D'oh!” he exclaimed, smacking his own forehead. “Sorry. So this is...no, I don't suppose it would be first contact.” He paused pensively. “Close encounter of the...third kind?”

“Fifth.”

“Ah, yes. Communication and cooperation between humans and aliens. So you, me, Mari, my parents, Aunt Sophie...”

“Rapunzel,” interrupted Howl, “but not Sophie.”

Neil's eyebrows went up. “She's...one of...them?” By now, Aedan had padded over next to Neil and was tugging at his shirt sleeve. Neil looked down into his smiling face and took his hand.

“He likes you,” said Howl. “And, yes, Sophie and I have had a close encounter of the seventh kind.” Neil cocked his head and Howl nodded at his son.

“Eew!” Neil yelped as he jerked his hand away from Aedan, who then started to cry.

Howl picked him up. “Is that any way to treat your cousin?” said Howl crossly. “It happens in Star Trek all the time.”

“But Star Trek's not real.”

“True. Let me ask you this, though. Was it gross before you knew Sophie's an alien?” Neil shook his head. Howl continued. “And just what is it that makes it gross?” Neil stood there like a deer in headlights. “Precisely. Besides, from her point of view, _I'm_ the alien. Now, he'd very much appreciate it if you'd apologize to him. He doesn't know English, but he _will_ understand the intent.”

Neil's demeanor softened. “Hey, little guy. I'm sorry,” he said to Aedan. “This is all so...weird, you know?” Aedan looked at his is cousin for a moment, then smiled slightly and held out his little hand. Neil took it hesitantly, shook it, then released.

He turned to Megan. “He inherited some of his mother's empathy, so he's really sensitive to people's reactions to him. What of the royal family?” said Howl, returning to his discussion with Suliman.  
“A piece of ejecta hit the palace. As near as I could tell, most of its residents...hell, over half of Kingsbury...were killed. I got a few of the staff, Prince Justin's youngest daughter, his nephew, a few people who happened to be in the gardens, and pretty much anyone else we could find. The city was a mess. We...” he visibly fought down a tear, “...just had to leave the others.” He glanced to his left at something out-of-sight. “Did...Martha make it?”

“Yes, why?”

Suliman gestured to someone off-screen and another man took his place. Howl's eyebrows went up and he motioned to Martha. She looked like she'd been sobbing off and on ever since she'd arrived. She walked over and looked into the mirror. The face it in beamed at her and she let out a squeal. Tears flowed once more, but tears of joy. She reached out to touch the mirror, unable to speak for a moment. Then she and the man in the mirror began to babble in Ingarian.

Howl turned to Megan. “That's her husband Wilfrid. He was away on business and we all thought he'd perished.” Howl and Megan both smiled.

When Martha and her husband had finished, she returned the mirror to Howl.

“I...don't suppose you brought any door markers, did you?” said Suliman. Howl nodded. “Blue?” Howl nodded again, got up, walked over to a bag sitting against the wall, rummaged in it, brought out something with blue markings and retreated down the hall. Suliman had disappeared from the mirror. After a minute, they could hear male voices coming from down the hall. Martha sat bolt-upright, her eyes wide. After a few moments, Howl and Wilfrid rounded the corner, Howl carrying a couple of small bags. Martha's face lit up, she squealed, leaped up off the sofa and ran into her husband's arms. They stood there for a minute in each other's hard embrace, saying nothing, tears streaming down their faces. Howl just watched them, grinning from ear to ear, a few tears trickling down his own cheeks. He glanced over at Megan, who was tearing up herself, the corners of her mouth turned up in a smile. Even Gareth seemed to be a bit misty-eyed. “These are the moments to which we must cling,” Howl said to them.

Howl returned to the mirror. “I contacted magi all over Ingary right after I spoke with Markl,” continued Suliman. “I don't know how many of them made it, or how many they were able to save. I'd be surprised if more than a hundred and twenty thousand escaped.”

Howl exhaled heavily. “That's out of three billion. It's better than nothing, but still....” He choked back more tears.

“Wait,” said Megan, walking back over to the mirror. “You said there were three _billion_ people on that planet? And you said maybe a hundred and twenty _thousand_ survived? That's....” her voice trailed off.

“That's less than one half of one one-thousanth of a percent, yes,” said Suliman.

“It gets worse,” said Howl. “There were four other star systems orbiting Betelgeuse. Three of them hosted habitable planets. Two of those systems had planets supporting humanoid populations. One of those held a single M-class planet with a population of about one billion. The other hosted a large gas giant in the habitable zone around which orbited four M-class moons with a collective population of a little over four billion.”

“Everything we know about these systems is from remote observation,” continued Suliman. “They were all too close to Krakanen for non-mechanical extra-systemic travel and all observed super-orbital flight was limited to travel between the moons of the gas giant system. We're reasonably sure there were no human expatriates on any of these worlds. We have no idea if anyone attempted to leave, how they would have done so, if they were successful, or where they may have gone if they were. We must presume that all five billion of them perished too, bringing the total death toll to eight billion.”

“Oh...my...God...” Megan began to cry.

“Uncle Howell?” said Neil from behind Howl.

“Not now, Neil,” he said.

“I really think you need to see this,” said Neil insistently.

Howl sighed and turned around to face his nephew. “You said this Bifrost of yours touched down in northwestern China, so I checked for atmospheric disturbances in that area and cross-referenced for others around the world, and...” he thrust his iPad into Howl's face. He took it and peered at it for a minute, then looked up abruptly.

“Bonneville Dam!” He held the iPad up to the mirror. “Um...I think your figures might be a bit low,” he said to Suliman.

Suliman peered at it himself. “Are _all_ of those Bifrost events?”

“Looks like it. We'll have to analyze the data to be sure, though.” He handed the iPad back to Neil.

“Oh, and Uncle Howell? This has already exploded over the Internet. There's a lot of activity through some SETI project in New Mexico run by a Jane Foster...something about a Rosen bridge? That place is going nuts! Anyway, I'm going to be needing those Hot Pockets.”

The doorbell rang. “Neil, would you get that?” said Megan. A minute later, Neil returned with an armload of Hot Pocket boxes. “Don't ask,” he said, “because I have no idea. I'll go get started on that Internet thing.” Neil retreated to the kitchen and a few minutes later walked upstairs with a plate full of freshly-microwaved Hot Pockets.

“You have no idea how much I was hoping this would happen,” continued Suliman. “There certainly do seem to be a lot more touchdowns than I was expecting and that indicates even more total evacuation events when we include standard portals. That doesn't tell me much about the actual numbers, of course, but this is _very_ encouraging. I'll have a much clearer picture once I've spoken with the rest of the groups. It'll do a _lot_ for our morale.” His gaze went back to Megan.

“So you understand now why your brother did what he did and why it's so important that we succeed. These people stand upon the edge of a blade. We...that's me and Howl and now you...are tasked with preserving what remains of what was until just yesterday a vast and glorious civilization. Do not underestimate the importance of what we must now do.” He looked back at Howl. “We're going to begin the Nidularion Procedure in the morning. You should do the same. We can only adequately observe so many at a time, so we're going to have to do it in shifts. It's going to take a while, what with fifty thousand souls and scores of animals. The quarantine dome should hold that long. _Then_ we'll have to figure out where to go from here. We'll still have to continue to regard Earth as a hostile environment.”

“Well...” said Gareth. “There are hostile _environments_ on Earth, sure, but...”

“No, Gareth, to them the entire _planet_ has to be treated as hostile, which sounds strange, I know. They have absolutely no immunity to our diseases, have no knowledge whatsoever about our flora and fauna, have no idea how to approach all the various peoples on our world, and no nothing about any of our laws and customs. These people are vulnerable...physically, mentally, psychologically...and every last one of them is frightened as hell. They're not ready for Earth and I'm not at all sure Earth is ready for them. But there it is. In the meantime, we will all need some rest. I'll contact you again when we've finished. We _will_ meet again, we _will_ reunite the Ingarian remnant and we _will_ help them build a new future. Komtraya!”

“Komtraya, my friend.” At that, Howl closed the mirror-call. Then he again addressed everyone in the room while Sophie translated. “Everyone, tomorrow we must begin the Nidularion Procedure. It will not be much fun, believe me. Without it, most, if not all, of you will die of one of Earth's many diseases and all this will have been in vain. We'll all need our rest. Until then, the quarantine dome will keep you safe.”

“Quarantine?” said Gareth, clearly agitated.

“What have you read about first contact between Europeans and the Americas?” Gareth shook his head slowly and Howl continued. “The short and relevant bit is that between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the small-pox, measles and influenza epidemics Europeans unwittingly introduced killed tens of millions of people and reduced the population of the Western Hemisphere by around ninety percent. These people are at least as vulnerable. They _must_ be inoculated and that's what the Nidularion Procedure does. Otherwise, the common cold may as well be Ebola. The portals we've been using to come and go have built-in biofilters, so to speak, which is how people like me and Suliman avoided contaminating Ingary and why I occasionally came back...we're not any more equipped to deal with Ingarian germs. When I decided to marry Sophie and remain on Ingary, I underwent the Procedure myself. We figured we might come back here at some point, so Sophie performed it on herself as well. They're all going to feel like death warmed over for a while. After that, they'll be completely immune to every contagion on this planet. It's sort of a bio-macro, if you will. It has powerful implications for the future of Earth medicine. When we're done with the Ingarians, we could probably clear up your lactose-intolerance and Neil's asthma...with your permission, of course.” Gareth raised an eyebrow. “We'll discuss it further later. Just think about it.”

Silence fell once more.

“It's too quiet,” said Howl, “Let's have some music and levity! There have been far too many tears shed this day.”

A few of those present had brought instruments, Ingarian versions of things like flutes and pipes, and one that looked like a curious combination of pan flute and harmonica. The music began, slowly at first and then sped up as everyone relaxed a little. Rapunzel set her teacup on the table, hopped up and started dancing to a lively, vaguely Irish-sounding, tune. That brought much-needed laughter, the impromptu festivities continuing well into the night.

*****  


“Howell,” said Megan after a while, “it seems I misjudged you...we both did.”

“No, no you didn't. You were right about me. You'd have been the first person to call me a lazy, self-absorbed, careless, childish, irresponsible son of a motherless goat and I'd have been the first to deny it. But you'd have been completely correct. I was trying to escape my responsibilities, but they caught up with me anyway.”

“Yes,” said Gareth, “they tend to do that.”

“Go ahead,” said Howl to Megan, “say it.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Alright, I told you so.”

He chuckled and nodded.

“You know,” said Gareth, “it's going to take a lot more than this,” he nodded in the direction of the living room, “to repair your reputation in the community.”

“Hang my reputation! I'm concerned about my family and those people in there...end of story. I intend to do the right thing, whatever that happens to be. My reputation can take a flying leap.”

“You grew up, little brother.”

“I'm not sure I'd go that far.”

They both laughed.

“So how bad is this Nidu-whatever going to be?” said Gareth.

“Nidularion. They're all going to be flat on their backs for an entire month.”

Both her eyebrows went up, as did Gareth's. “A month?! And I suppose you want us to house them, too? Are you nuts?”

“Like I said, it wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to use the Bifrost for terraforming and _then_ for transportation to somewhere _else_. I almost suggested Mars, but it would have been noticed and Earth is going to need it anyway. Someone else wanted to terraform Jotunheim, but obliterating one civilization to save another would be unconscionable. The relocation itself was scheduled to take fifty years. Instead, it took less than two hours and we had to land smack in the middle of an arguably already-overpopulated Earth. Saying this is an imposition on you is a vast understatement. Again, I apologize. This is going to take much of my and Sophie's attention. Some of these people will respond to the treatment better and faster than others, then they can help us and you. When we're not watching them, I'll be working on the housing issue and Sophie will work on feeding everyone.”

“You really didn't think this through, did you?” said Megan.

“Think this through? Haven't you been paying attention? There wasn't time to think it through,” said Howl simply. “We had to react and this was it. How many of the houses in the neighborhood are on the market at the moment?”

“Several. At least, I _think_ they're up for sale...they're at least vacant. Why?”

“I need to borrow a thousand pounds.”

She raised an incredulous eyebrow. “Oh, so _now_ the money thing comes out. Just when I...”

He interrupted her. “I need to buy them. To do that, I need some seed money. I'm going to manipulate the stock market.”

“What? But that's illegal!”

“Unethical maybe, but since no one's ever done what I'm going to do, there aren't really any laws against it. Besides, there's no chance anyone will detect it, let alone trace it. On the other hand...” he paused and rubbed his jaw pensively. “Perhaps I can...um...borrow some antiquities from the past and....” His voice trailed off.

Megan threw her hands up in exasperation. “No, don't tell me the details. The less I know, the better. Let us at least have some plausible deniability.”

They were interrupted by another chime of the doorbell. Gareth answered and was surprised by a courier holding a rather thick envelope addressed to Howl. He returned to the kitchen and surrendered the package. Howl peered at it quizzically, recognizing his own handwriting. “It's...from me!”

“From you?” said Megan. “You mailed something to yourself? When?”

He opened it and extracted the contents, which had him raising his eyebrow so much, Megan thought it might actually take up residence with the rest of his hair.

“It worked!” he exclaimed. “Or, rather, it _will_ work.” At Megan's own raised eyebrow, Howl continued. “I apparently go back in time eighty years, make some investments, then go back periodically to tweak them.” He rifled through the pages, giving each one a brief scan. “I even make it easy for myself by leaving specific instructions for how I'm going to do it.”

“Gee,” said Gareth sarcastically, “how magnanimous of you. What does that have to do with anything?”

“You know all those vacant houses in the neighborhood? I own them. So we can theoretically start moving people out of here first thing in the morning. It'll complicate keeping an eye on everyone, but I think it's worth the trade-off. So you need no longer be concerned about housing these people. I also apparently own Kupreanof Island.”

“Where?”

“It's in Alaska's Alexander Archipelago. It has over a thousand square miles and less than eight hundred people. That's where we'll put the Suliman group. There might even be...” he looked at another page. “Oh! We put almost _all_ the Ingarians there! Excellent! I'll notify Suliman immediately...not sure how we'll deal with those logistics.... It doesn't look like I tell myself what the final survival count it. I guess I want to surprise myself.” He shrugged, then pulled out another smaller envelope. “This is for you,” he said, handing it to Gareth.

“What's in it?” he said as he took it.

“I don't know. I haven't enclosed it yet.”

“Wait...that's... _my_ handwriting!” said Gareth. “Why is it mine?”

“This is making my head hurt,” said Megan, pressing her fingertips to her forehead.

Gareth opened it and examined the contents. Both his eyebrows went up and Howl was quite sure they actually disappeared into his bangs. “Just...how much do you _have_ in those investments of yours anyway?”

Howl looked at his papers again. “It's...obscene.”

“Are we talking profane, or really offensive?”

“Really offensive.”

Megan moved to look over her husband's shoulder and her eyes went wide. “What?! Howell! You can't...you can't do this!” she exclaimed in disbelief.

“Whatever it is,” said Howl, “apparently I can because clearly I did. What will I have done, if you don't mind my asking? I'll just look through here and find out anyway,” he said, indicating the stack of papers in his hand.

“You paid off our mortgage, credit cards, auto and college loans, established college funds for Neil and Mari and...Gareth, we can quit our jobs!”

“No,” said Gareth, shaking his head. “We couldn't possibly accept this...not from you.”

“Gareth? Get over it,” said Howl flatly. “It's a moot point anyway, since I already have and it's already yours...literally...as of...” he glanced at his papers again, “...opening of business today, actually. That right there,” he indicated the papers in Gareth's hands, “is all in your name...done, signed, sealed, delivered, etcetera. Besides, I'm giving a collection of houses, a one thousand eighty-two square-mile island...” he glanced over yet another page, “...with housing, supporting structures, spare building materials...gorrammit, I'm going to be busy...etcetera to well over a hundred thousand complete strangers. You think I'd neglect my own family? Maybe the old me might have, but as far as I'm concerned, that bloke's dead. I'm not trying to buy you, bribe you, shame you into forgiving me, or anything else. Just accept it, no strings attached. It's not like you have a choice anyway, not without violating causality, which I know you don't do, since I obviously make this happen. If you want nothing more to do with me after the last of us walks out your front door, that's entirely up to you. I fervently hope otherwise, though. I like you and I'd miss you, despite how much I've embarrassed you and how much you've hated my guts. Besides, this is the second-most important event in human history and you have an unprecedented opportunity to be a big part of it. There are humans who would sell their grandmothers' teeth, their first-born children _and_ their own souls for what's been dropped into your laps and you get it for _free_.”

A sheet of yellow paper caught his attention. It was a series of several hand-written notes and an instruction to read it aloud, which he did. “P.S.- Gareth despises his job...with the fury of a thousand burning suns...and the whole family will be _much_ happier if he gives notice first thing tomorrow...which he does. P.P.S.- Megan's unhappy with hers too and they both hate never seeing each other...and her new work will be pretty close to her present field anyway. 3P.S.- Neil gets to do his PCT through-hike...he'll be fine, don't worry about the snakes and the snow. Ask Sophie to make sure you/I handle his resupplies. 4P.S.- Don't be surprised when he wants to court Sophie's cousin...it's not like they're actually even remotely related anyway. 5P.S.- Megan will be gratified to know that all the immigration paperwork you/I will have to do will be a monumental pain in the arse...have fun with that. 6P.S.- Don't worry, nobody gets deported to Area Fifty-one. 7P.S.- Be sure you follow your instructions to the letter...which I know you do since you're standing there reading this now. 8P.S.- I'm moving the portal to Sophie's and my new place...I'll know which one that is some time this week. 9P.S.- Duck. 10P.S.- I said duck!”

Howl ducked just as a shoe came flying across the room and through the space where his head had been. He returned all the papers to the envelope, walked over and picked up the shoe. “Now, if you don't mind, I have a wife, a two-year-old son and a group of refugees who need my support in the other room.” At that, he returned to the living room.

Megan and Gareth stood there gawking at each other and at the papers in their hands. “Do you really hate your job that much?”

“Yes. Yes I do.”

“Are you really going to do it?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

Gareth looked at the papers again. “I admit I'm rather baffled, but it wouldn't make any sense at all for Howell to fake any of this. I don't think it would be possible anyway.” He noticed a piece of yellow paper like the one Howl had read. He pulled it out and looked at it. “It's in my handwriting, too!” He proceeded to read it aloud as well.

“Go ahead, double-check all of this. It's all online and you have all the account information in your hand...it'll make you feel better. No, he didn't fake any of it...that would just be mean. Yes, I know this takes the wind out of your sails and that you want to continue being angry with him. Let it go...anger leads to hate...hate leads to suffering...that leads to the Dark Side.” They looked at each other again and Gareth continued reading. “You need to give up that smoking habit...cold turkey...right this instant! It'll suck, but Sophie can help. It's _highly_ toxic to them and let's face it, it's pretty damn toxic to us too...it just takes a lot longer. Markl will fumigate your house for you and not in the way you think. Your bosses will try _very_ hard to convince you not to quit your jobs...stand your ground...what you'll be doing will be so much more rewarding, it's not even funny. Seriously, don't freak out when Neil starts dating Nalaya...they make a cute couple and she'll be good for him. This is the dawn of a new age both for you and for Earth...grab it by the lips and yank!” They stood there blinking at each other for a couple of minutes.

“We have to do it, you know,” said Megan. “It's surreal and frightening and I still don't understand any of it, but...I just have this feeling...besides apparently having told ourselves about it.” Gareth smiled and nodded and they both embraced, tears welling up in their eyes. He returned the papers to their envelope and laid it on the counter. Then they went into the living room. She walked over behind her brother and hugged him. “Thank-you,” she said, “we accept.”

Howl smiled. “I'm glad. You won't regret it, I promise. I have a feeling this is all going to be very interesting.”

“But we're still watching you,” said Gareth.

“I wouldn't have it any other way.”

*****  


The next morning was nearly as chaotic as the previous afternoon. The line for the bathrooms rivaled any supermarket check-out counter and the hot water kept running out. Breakfast alone consumed half the refrigerator contents, the other half being inedible by Ingarians. Most of the refugees had brought some foodstuffs with them, but that wasn't likely to last long. Howl was pretty sure he'd have to start catching starlings, pigeons, squirrels, fish and possibly stray cats and dogs immediately and that Sophie would have to maintain a cauldron of eternal soup to continually nourish her kin while they all sorted out the living arrangements and the nutritional concerns. Sophie set Neil and Mari to the task of combing the nearby hedgerows for edible wild greens, of which there was no shortage.

Immediately after breakfast, Howl used the portal to send Rapunzel on to the Princess Palace with the promise that he'd return for her in about a week her time. This would be four months his time.

Howl personally replaced the food the refugees under his charge had eaten, and then some, adding some of the really high-end stuff like steak, lobster and a couple of bottles of obscenely expensive wine. Megan and Gareth watched Howl like hawks and saw for themselves that he had indeed gotten over himself, as it were. They realized he was pretty much a new man and began to make peace with him. This alone diffused much of the tension in the house. Gareth and Megan quit their jobs, which diffused most of the rest of the tension. That freed the Perry family to dive into their newfound work with the Ingarian diaspora. Gareth quit smoking immediately and they let Sophie fix Neil's asthma, Gareth's lactose-intolerance and Mari's previously undetected leukemia.

Gareth worked with Howl, Suliman and the few other human magi to orient the Ingarians to the complex multicultural environment of Earth and became chief liason with Earth's governments. Megan became Sophie's head medical assistant, developed neoworld medical protocols alongside the surviving Ingarian doctors and personally authored most of the published material on Ingarian physiology.

Neil worked with Howl and Sophie building three databases: one with every plant edible by or toxic to Ingarians, with emphasis on each plant's specific phytochemistry; one with every compound found to be toxic to Ingarians and where it occurred, cross-referencing with every compound known to be toxic to humans and where that occurred, all with the type and degree of toxicity, further cross-referenced with toxin interactions, eventually developing an Earth-based naturopathic pharmaceutical system relevant to Ingarians; and one listing every Ingarian, the Group with which they evacuated, where they were living now, cross-referencing to any known surviving relatives in other Groups. He had to re-build and re-design each database multiple times as each grew and changed, and as his understanding of the subject matter expanded. His friends gave him no end of grief about it, particularly when it came to things like online gaming about which he'd been previously obsessed and now had completely abandoned; he'd insisted that this was far more important anyway, although it was still some time before he was allowed to say anything about their origins. By the time he completed his secondary schooling, he'd gained a Master's-level knowledge of organic, molecular and biochemistry and ethnobotany and was well on his way to becoming one of the leading authorities in the nascent field of xenobiology.

Mari helped the local Ingarian children acclimate to their new world and eventually pioneered interspecies child phsychology and sociology. She and Neil became fully bilingual in Ingarian. In fact, they liked it so much, they started speaking it more than English. This impressed Nalaya, which Neil was forced to admit was a significant motivating factor. This was just as well, since while Ingarians didn't seem to have trouble learning to read and understand English, they consistently failed to learn how to speak it more than passably. This revealed some interesting things about Ingarian psychology and neurology. Mari's, on the other hand, was interfering with her English comprehension marks in school and her parents had to insist that she either speak Ingarian less or read English more—she chose the latter, which Megan, Gareth and Howl all found pleasantly surprising.

Megan, Gareth and Mari worked with Howl, Sophie and Markl developing a sort of “Welcome to Earth” course designed to assist the Ingarians in navigating the many pitfalls associated with extreme culture shock and a new world filled with wholly unfamiliar dangers. Howl and Suliman continued to fight the scientific establishment for recognition of the validity of holistic physics.

Howl began moving the Ingarians into their new homes as they reached the end of the Nidularion Procedure, sometimes before if he thought they could handle it. Mrs. Fairfax had turned up at Suliman's house across town with dozens of children and a couple of her employees in tow, having evacuated everyone at her school who hadn't been killed in the initial shock-wave. Some of them belonged to members of the Jenkins group and Megan and Gareth got to witness several more joyful reunions. The remainder of the children were placed under the guardianship of other members of the group pending possible, though admittedly unlikely, location of their own families. Howl shared with her and Gareth more about how magic worked. The elder Perrys had even started picking up a little of the Ingarian language, which made everyone feel a little better. They found little Aedan to be quite charming and soon fell in love with him, which strengthened the bond between them and Sophie's family. In short, the whole ordeal had been a bonding experience and had not only gone a long way toward healing the ill between Howl and his sister and brother-in-law, but had forged both Howl's folks and the local Ingarians into a new extended family. People all over town took notice, too, and Howl's reputation slowly began to change.

The local Ingarians had started vegetable gardens with British seed as well as what they'd brought with them. Megan showed them how to forage in the countryside while Sophie screened each taxon for compatibility with Ingarian biochemistry, Neil adding to his database. It turned out that much of what was toxic to humans was perfectly benign to Ingarians and to a lesser extent visa-versa. While the total number of infectious agents on Earth known to be an issue to Ingarians was small, they were all serious threats. Howl and Suliman spoke with each other periodically through the mirror and he, Sophie and Markl went to help soon after Sophie's folks were settled in their own houses. Megan wasn't sure that was a good idea, but Howl convinced her he was needed there. He showed Megan how to use the mirror in case she had any further questions. Howl, Sophie and Markl helped Suliman compress the overall timetable for the Nidularion Procedure among the Suliman Group. He also helped move everyone to Kupreanof Island, timing their arrival to coincide with major Alaskan storm systems to mask the intercontinental Bifrost-Junior stream. The final confirmed survivor count had risen to around 350,000. All of them had lost one or more family and friends and most had barely escaped with the clothes on their backs. Some were eventually reunited with survivors at least from their home towns and occasionally with misplaced family members. After three months, they returned and Howl and Sophie went to check on Rapunzel.

**Author's Note:**

> I began thinking about my approach to this after watching "Thor." I was captivated by the idea that the Norse Realms are real planets. I decided to slightly re-imagine Howl's Moving Castle with the assertion that Ingary is not another world in the sense that Narnia and Middle Earth are other worlds, but rather in the sense that Mars and Vulcan are other worlds. So I turned Ingary into a planet with a real location in the galaxy. I placed it in the Alpha-Orionis (Betelgeuse) System--Betelgeuse is the best-known and most-studies red supergiant and Earth astronomers expect it to go supernova very soon anyway. In my research, I found one site that said there may be as many as five or six other stars in orbit around Betelgeuse. Distance figures ranged from 450 to 600 light-years from Earth.  
> Since Ingary is a planet, its inhabitants wouldn't necessarily be human per se--as such, they'd have their own language, their own culture (even though the reader of the source material seems meant to understand it to be vaguely Victorian/Edwardian) and, most importantly, their own physiology. My thoughts on the issue of diseases came from reading *1491* which discusses, among other things, the devastating effect of European diseases upon the peoples of the Americas in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries.  
> I've long been intrigued by the idea that magic is just science that we don't understand yet and I place the magic of HMC in this context.


End file.
